Cal Ripken Jr. wants role in turning around Orioles franchise

Thursday

The Orioles arenít hopeless. But itís difficult to imagine how theyíre going to restore the luster to this once-great franchise until Peter G. Angelos takes the first step off baseballís skid row.

The Orioles aren't hopeless. But it's difficult to imagine howthey're going to restore the luster to this once-great franchiseuntil Peter G. Angelos takes the first step off baseball's skidrow.

He's got to admit he has a problem and ask for help.

Cal Ripken Jr. is ready any time the Orioles' owner is willingto swallow his apparently inexhaustible supply of pride and makehis best effort to give Baltimore a winning baseball teamagain.

Buck Showalter is a good baseball man, but like new generalmanager Dan Duquette he's not a miracle worker. Even if they cornerthe market on Asian pitchers, the Orioles aren't going to becompetitive against the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays and Blue Jays withthe way they have operated during Angelos' heavy-headed, 19-seasonreign in the owners' suite. You can't get from here to there.

You could give it your best shot though.

Even after 14 consecutive losing seasons, Angelos won't do that.He's still the same guy who couldn't relinquish control of thebaseball operation to Pat Gillick, and his ego won't allow him toenter into a de facto partnership with Ripken, the franchise iconwho played 2,632 of his 3,001 games in a streak that had more to dowith helping baseball recover from the 1994-95 strike than theMcGwire-Sosa homerfest.

Ripken, who has been active in youth baseball since retiring, isconfident that he could have the same positive influence on afranchise that Nolan Ryan has had on the Rangers. He's anxious tohave a role with a big-league team, providing it comes withauthority.

Ripken has been mentioned as wanting ownership interest in ateam, but someone close to him says the key is for him to have"control of the baseball side of the operation ... big picturestuff." Ripken is saying he could go elsewhere to try to help ateam win, but what makes more sense - the Orioles or The Other29?

Thanks at least as much to self-inflicted wounds as to theMontreal Expos' move to Washington, D.C., the sea of empty seats atCamden Yards grows annually. Baltimore's annual attendance hasdropped from 2.74 million to 1.76 million in the eight seasons thatthe Washington Nationals became neighbors. The Orioles need Ripkento be involved, but instead it's all about Showalter.

Highly respected for his contributions to the Yankees' dynastyand then a ground-up construction project in Arizona, Showalterfaces his biggest challenge. Baltimore fans dreamed of a turnaroundwhen the 2010 team finished 34-23 after Showalter had taken over,but reality returned with a 93-loss 2011. It was the Orioles' sixthstraight season in which they lost at least 92 games.

They've made no major moves to acquire outside talent for the2012 season, unless you count Tuesday's signing of infielder WilsonBetemit and the dubious signing of Asian pitchers Wei-Yin Chen andTsuyoshi Wada. New GM Duquette, hired to replace Andy MacPhail,used his background in international scouting to add inventory to arotation that has been hurt by the stalled development of leftyBrian Matusz and right-hander Chris Tillman.

The lineup returns largely unchanged, with the health of secondbaseman Brian Roberts once again the big question going to springtraining. These guys need a hero, someone like Ryan, but Angeloscan't bring himself to ask Ripken for help.

And furthermore

Angelos and Ripken did talk about a possible role for Cal twoyears ago but there was no follow-up by Angelos.

Catcher Matt Wieters, selected fifth overall in the 2007 draft -two picks after the Cubs took eager-to-sign high school thirdbaseman Josh Vitters - is going to be a perennial All-Star.

Third baseman Mark Reynolds is coming off a 37-homer, 31-error,196-strikeout season. The Orioles experimented with moving him tofirst and playing Chris Davis at third but remain uncertain howthey'll line up when the season begins. The answer may lie inwhether third basemen Josh Bell and Ryan Flaherty (a Rule 5 pickupfrom the Cubs) can beat out Davis, who seems more comfortable atfirst.

Reynolds has struck out 834 times the last four seasons, leadinghis league each year. The Orioles have high-end prospects on theway in right-hander Dylan Bundy and power-hitting shortstop MannyMachado but no kids expected to step in this season.

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